Here the ancient game becomes a metaphor for romantic rivalries, competitive gamesmanship, super power politics and international intrigues. The pawns in this drama form a love triangle: the loutish American chess star, the earnest Russian champion and a Hungarian-American female assistant who arrives at the international chess match in Bangkok with the American but falls for the Russian. From Bangkok to Budapest the players, lovers, politicians, and spies manipulate and are manipulated to the pulse of a monumental rock score that includes “One Night in Bangkok” and “Heaven Help My Heart.”

Music by Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson
Lyrics by Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus
Book by Richard Nelson
Directed by Lisa Anne Bailey
Music Direction by Scott Richards
Choreography by Cathy Oh
Produced by John Nunemaker